Kakumeiki Valvrave – 13

“I’m going to feed on no one but you, L-elf” – I am not at all sure what was Haruto smoking, but I don’t think anyone in the right mind would have chosen L-elf over Saki! As far as I’m concerned, it wasn’t even a coin toss, and the answer that Haruto should have picked was pure and simple. Saki has made her intent as palpable as she could – the beautiful idol is deeply in love with Haruto and she was, no doubt, all ready to throw herself at him should he gave the nod. What Haruto did was impertinent, unjustifiable and borderline blasphemous – of course, my harsh criticism is nothing more than a jest and all joking aside, Haruto’s steadfast resolution was perfectly in character and what we have witnessed thus far does point to a continuation of their never-ending predicaments! Yes, Kakumeiki Valvrave is, indeed, back in full force – and you can be sure Okouchi Ichiro’s presence (of Code Geass’ fame) was felt early and throughout. The premiere of its second season was chockfull of drama, bombast and action-packed thrills – it was theatrics at its very best and this series is most certainly second to none when it comes to the notion of straight-up entertainment value! I had an absolute blast out of every second of its 25 minutes and the sentimental side of the story was for sure moving ahead at full speed. The emotional roller-coaster ride continues to beleaguer all of our main characters and it sure as hell doesn’t look like their excruciation is coming to an end any time soon. Tokishima Haruto (Ohsaka Ryota) is suffering from an incessant string of “vampire-attacks” – he is constantly mired in an inward battle between his animate desires and the rectitude of his conscience. Rukino Saki (Tomatsu Haruka) and Sashinami Shouko (Seto Asami) also have a fair share of anguish and plights – the former want to lend Haruto a hand but she is not sure how to go about it, while the latter is slowly but surely drifting away from her childhood sweetheart. The secrets and mendacities continue to pile up – it’s hardly a pretty picture and you can be almost certain that this is merely the beginning of their many adversities.

Okouchi sensei is playing his cards very close to his vest, and there were definitely more questions than answers in this episode. For starters, L-elf Karlstein (Kimura Ryouhei) is pretty much still a closed book and his true intention has yet to be spelled out in the whole. He is firmly sticking by Haruto’s side for now – splitting both their fortunes and infelicities in half! But there’s also a need to keep a close eye on the prodigious Dorssian soldier and nothing is ever set in concrete when we’re dealing with L-elf – his loyalty lies with no one but himself, and I’m sure he’ll be all set to switch sides in a heartbeat should the situation calls for it! The big-picture narratives might be shrouded in enigma – but there are bits and pieces of its secrets that are gradually coming to light as well. The various commentaries that surround the Runes – and by extension, Haruto’s deteriorating health, was quite an eye-opener to say the least. Runes, the elementary building blocks of information, are consumed as a source of power for the Valvraves, and the periodical “vampire attacks” are, in fact, withdrawal symptoms of an alimentary depletion of such Runes. It is not entirely clear if anyone other than Haruto has gone through the same experience and the brief explication doesn’t quite explain how the delicate notion of sexual intercourse comes into play! Haruto has made up his mind on what needs to be done – the pilot of Hito (Valvrave I) intends to have the Valvrave’s curse end with the current few, and he’s hoping the creators of the mysterious mecha – and perhaps a certain Tokishima sensei, will have some answers to all of his dilemmas. Something tells me this is not going to work out as seamlessly as he had hoped – and the multiple time-skips that we have perceived certainly allude to a curse that remained ubiquitous well into the distant future! The second half of Kakumeiki Valvrave officially kicks off with the beginning of a brand new journey – the five Valvraves are making their way to Earth in a recon mission, a voyage that is bound to be plagued by mayhem, obstacles and most importantly, a foreshadowing of more revelations to come!

Their new expedition has obvious implications across a wide range of characters, and the many conjectures that have insofar prevailed might need some form of recalibration in the near future. The “love triangle” is going to come across a whole slew of upheavals – Saki appears to have an upper hand for now, and their latest mission is set to exacerbate the seeming estrangement between Haruto and Shouko even further. Haruto has made a confidante out of Saki and there’s increasingly a sense that he has come to see her as more than just that – his deep affection for Saki is beyond doubt, and the biggest question at hand is whether he can eventually move on from his childhood sweetheart and make Saki his one-and-only! The Magius, true to its mystifying origins, continues to remain a thoroughgoing enigma. Colonel Cain (Ono Daisuke) has been a long-time associate of the mysterious organization and it looks like he has gotten a new accomplice in the form of Mirko (Koyasu Takehito – Zechs in Gundam Wing) – an obscure being who has apparently taken control of the Dorssian Chancellor’s body! There’s not a whole lot that we can say about them at this stage – both Prue (Yonaga Tsubasa) and Pino (Kayano Ai – RIP Sakurai Aina) appear to be right at the forefront of these mysteries, and the Magius has certainly taken quite an interest in the two sentient entities that exist within the Valvrave’s operating system! Nobody knows for sure what the Magius or Colonel Cain is plotting – it seems like they are in the process of creating a legion of mecha armies, or better known as the Valvrave’s kodomotachi (children) in this context. As a myriad of conspiracies slowly but surely emerged from the grand layout, there’s noticeably an internecine struggle that is brewing behind the scenes as well. H-neun (Miyano Mamoru) and Kriemhild (Mizuki Nana) have good reasons to be distrustful of their superiors – they probably have an agenda of their own mapped out and Colonel Cain could very well be facing a fair share of impediments in his course of action! I am infinitely impressed with the premiere of its second season – the cluster of conundrums and their ensuing personalities are quickly shaping up to be a very interesting combo. I can’t wait to see what Okouchi sensei has in store for us in the coming weeks – the stars are aligned for an extravaganza of adventures, and what’s looming ahead can only be all the more brazen, dramatic, and riveting!

Haruto is going to feed on no one but L-elf – Is that how L-elf Jr. from the finale of Season One came into being? Fujoshi rejoice! – Adultery is A-okay as long as you’re not cheating with another girl… wait what?

The outlook is looking increasingly promising for Team Saki – she knows about Haruto’s secrets, and the growing distance between Haruto and Shouko is a great boon for her ship. Interestingly enough, Saki was also the first one that came to Haruto’s mind when he thought about those who are important to him!

Gosh, Kriemhild is so damn hot and the fact that she’s voiced by Mizuki Nana only makes her all the more attractive! I’m shipping H-neun and Kreimhild as the one-true-pair! X-eins (Hosoya Yoshimasa) is tripping on some serious death flags – I suspect he’s going to be the first one to go.

tl;dr:@SeishunRC – Kakumeiki #Valvrave – 13: “I’m going to feed on no one but you, L-elf” – I am not sure what was Haruto smoking, but I don’t think anyone in the right mind would have chosen L-elf over the beautiful Saki! #Anime

Talking about Saki and Haruti´s choice of feeding of L-elf, I think is the right one. What is the point of taking away from Saki who also needs it because she´s part of the valvrave system? Even though it´s abvious Haruto acts as som sort of central power that distributes the rune among all the valvrave units it won´t be wise to take the power away of someone on their own fighting team.

I personally can’t put too much stock into the ‘love triangle’ as it were. Past experience with Okouchi and Sunrise mecha in general just makes me feel like it’s not going to go anywhere at all, and this episode seems to further prove that.

I personally don’t care for that pairing at all, but I won’t knock you for it. If anything I think Shoko x Haruto is more likely, because it feels like they’re creating a rift only to bring them back together, but I’d be very unsurprised if he doesn’t get a happy ending with either of them. I suppose we’ll see soon enough.

There´s a real posibility that the kid Saki is tellind the story in the future is a descendant of L-elf and Shouko, think about it, n there is no better pair to lead a new JIOR nation right now and Saki might act as a tutor or guardian for the future generations of her friend. Talking about the future, Haruto´s plan to destroy the valvraves once the war is over are pretty much dead before they began because Saki piloting a valvrave 200 years into the future, sucks for him.

I think the Haruto x Shouko is ship has nearly sunk completely by this point.They’ve been talking less & less since the 1st season and I don’t see any signs of that changing in this one.

Quite the opposite actually,Shouko is now the prime minister and will probably be busy being taken advantage of by ARUS politicians trying make a better life for the people on module 77.

As for Haruto,he has plenty of worries himself and I’d say that love wouldn’t even be on his mind right now but Saki’s there with him for better or worst and while I believe that Shouko would do the same,things are how they are.

valvrave has returned. for me it has never ended, it was just stopped or put “on-hold” for a few weeks.
we can actually see that..Valvrave is still valvrave. there isn’t a “gap” between s1 and s2. nothing really changed in terms of atmosphere or something. and it continued from the exact same point from last season, and in the exact same..valvrave-style. it’s not a bad thing or something..it’s just how I see it.

what did “change” if u want to say so is the development. in terms of story there’s huge development. much more clear and detailed. in term of characters it had also changed a bit. much more ‘distance’ between Haruko and Shoko. while we actually see the opposite between Shoko and L-elf (I sense we have a new couple – L-elf X Shoko…mm sounds good(?) but writing is annoying..we’ll see about that).

having said and seen all that so far..so now that valvrave has returned..let’s come into more interesting stuff.
here’s a poll(or bet?): besides Saki, who will survive until the end (aka until that timeskip we’ve already seen back there in s1)? LOL

YEEEEEEEESSSSS IT’S FINALLY TIME FOR SOME VALVRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAVE!

I do like how they finished up the cliffhanger from last season right away without any time skips or anything. It looks like they’re taking a slower pace this time to set everything up for the crazy events that will happen in future episodes which is for the best pacing-wise. There are also some pictures of the soon to be modified VVV-1 which will look… pretty interesting though it does seem a bit cluttered. But hey, it’s Sunrise so I’m not worried about its looks.

I was hyped when they announced that T.M. Revolution and Mizuki Nana would be doing yet another OP together, but it’s truly glorious to finally hear it. Anyways, I prepared my body for a whole season so LET’S RAVE IT UP.

Saki’s single became an instant bestseller – I really do hope there’s an actual release of her character song! Tomatsu Haruka is an excellent singer – she’s Sakana chan who sang Star Driver’s “Monochrome”.
WHAT!!!!! INSTANT RISE TO FAVE CHARACTER

When listening to both songs for the very first time, I didn’t find “Kakumeki Realism” having the same impact as “Preserved Roses”. HOWEVER, I can see the former growing on me over time, and it might just overtake season 1′s OP.

The tests aren’t bad, of course, but holding them in secret (they didn’t even tell her) while Haruto seems to be in pain isn’t exactly the best way to handle the issue. She’s mostly right to be surprised.

You’re assuming that the enemy is going to risk openly attacking them on the moon to begin with. Unlikely, since not only are the Valvraves what they’re actually after, but also because they’re now fully under the protection of ARUS as opposed to just having a couple of friendly ships around them.

Why WOULD they tell her? Unless she or any of the other pilots start gaining these tendencies, this experiment doesn’t concern her. Plus Haruto’s already been proven to be a threat if not handled properly. She’s seen proof of that first hand!

And fair point, but it still seems hasty to take all of your best weapons on a recon mission, especially when said weapons are the only real match they have against the enemy forces.

@Da5id: From her point of view, it’s a trust issue. If you look at it from her personal perspective, which is necessary, then she’s not angry at Haruto himself. What happened to her was bad but she’s not blaming the person and wants to help him (and help herself, by extension).

@Actus: ARUS isn’t good either, but they’re at least playing nice in public and protecting them so far.

The point is that he is proven to go out of control when he is not put under restraints and she knows this. Whether or not they tell her, she should already understand their reasons for doing it. Hence why her reaction is overdramatic and unwarranted.

If haruto only needs to suck blood from L-elf to control himself and prove valrave with energy, why did he have to rape saki? Couldn’t he just have sucked her blood and leave? Unless, the ending was implying that haruto had to sexually assault L-elf as well…

Many including myself theorize that the incident with Saki had nothing to do with his hunger for runes. He acts differently when he’s “starving” than he did when he faced Saki. Instead of becoming weak and falling apart, he became stronger, rabid, and beastly. His eyes when biting L-11 stay blue, if a little more feral, when he was with Saki, his eyes turned red and crazed. Most interestingly of all, when Haruto went after Saki, he never tried to bite her, his mind wasn’t on consuming runes, it was on one thing and one thing only.

Most think it was some drive to procreate, and that perhaps Haruto is one of the few who can, since the Magius council seem to reproduce like most vampires, by transforming a human. Haruto might be the key to them being able to procreate again though.

Probably because she is a female and/or a vampire that the curse made him do something else as well (I don’t think he ever even fed on another female). Food and reproduction are natural No. 1 priority of a species after all.

After finally hearing the proper TV version of “Kakumeiki Dualism” (Would that be translated as “Liberating Dualism?”), and with visuals, I have to say I really like it. It has energy and some really nice imagery and action to go along with the music. I also kinda liked the “Kakumeiki Valvrave Starts” . It’s still no Preserved Roses, but I can live with it as the second opening for Valvrave.

I was hoping for a big fight between Valvraves I and II to close out season ones finale, so it was nice to finally get see it here. It went about as well as I expected for Unit I . Still, I think Haruto did an admirable job fighting back, and at the very least he was able to annoy Cain. It was cool to see Valvrave I improvise with the Vurutoga destroyed, and even appropriate Valvrave III’s Armstrong Cannon.

I felt Haruto really stepped up as main protagonist in this episode. He refuses to let the curse get the better of him and force him to hurt someone against his will. He’ll use L-Elf as much as L-Elf is using him, and with L-Elf as his Rune supplier, the Valvraves will keep working, the pilots won’t go crazy, and no one innocent will have to endure what Saki went through. He also made a pretty heroic declaration that he’ll find out the truth about the Valvraves and set things right, ending the curse and making them human again. Of course, the flashes to the future indicate that’s far from what will happen, though I hope that Haruto is able to achieve some victory for himself by the end of the series.

If the opening is any indication, it looks like the love triangle will still be a major part of the series. In this episode we have Saki extremely worried about Haruto and more than willing to be his personal source of Rune, and hoping he’ll be the same for her. With the two together for the mission on Earth, I wonder if Saki will keep up her idol stance towards their relationship or make a movie while Haruto’s away from Shoko? Speaking of, Shoko hasn’t confessed to Haruto because she’s focused primarily on running JIOR but obviously still really cares for him. She also appears very appreciative towards L-Elf, though I doubt it’s anything more than that. I wonder how much focus she, and I guess what’s going on with JIOR in general, will get focused on when more of the main cast is off to Earth?

As for L-Elf, as much as I think he’s coming to respect Haruto and Shoko, I’m still sure he’d be willing to kill either of them if it suited his objectives. Not really your ideal love interest…

“Beast High?” Really Kyuuma? Well, considering his last name is Inuzuka, I guess it’s somewhat appropriate for Valvrave V. So that leaves I and VI as the only Units without nicknames.

So if a member of the Magius possessed the Dorsian Fuhrer, does that mean Cain isn’t actually Cain ? That also makes me wonder if the Saki we’ve seen in the future is really Saki…

So the new uniforms are just for the team going to Earth? Shame we didn’t get to see Saki in hers just yet…

Looks like the next episode is an Akira focused one, and I’m hoping to see more interactions between her and the other Valvrave pilots. Also great to see you blogging Valvrave again Seishun!

Saki wasn’t a human when Haruto raped her, did he get rune power from doing that? Humans got the most runes apparently so why haven’t any of the other valvpires attacked anyone yet? Saki bit Haruto at one point, does she get rune power from him?

Red Valvrave is supposedly the master computer that powers the other colors so when Haruto bites L-elf for rune power does that keep Saki, Akira, Thunder, and Inuzuka from attacking other people?

What about all those Valvpires that Magius got? Where are the humans for them to attack or are all of them just having some big orgy to get runes lol?

I smell you shouldn’t rush to find answers when we clearly don’t have enough information yet.

Keep in mind Saki and the others haven’t died yet, only Haruto has, and they haven’t had any seizures either. Nor does any of their robots have Pino/OS girl in the engine, so their situations have been established as distinct in various ways despite similarly “giving up their humanity” on paper.

Obviously we know even less about the Magius so there are no true “contradicts” to speak of.

- he probably got runes from her as well
- Haruto is likely the Alpha vampire due to having the Alpha mecha (the one that has the VVV-chan) and now we saw that his hunger fuels everyone’s mecha. Seems like the rest are only partial Vampires
- Magius controls the entire human world (seeing as both Fihrer and the President of ARUS answer to them). Getting food should not be hard to them

It’s possible that Pino would turn to the other pilots to get runes if necessary. Dr. Takumi thought of this when warning them about their drive to gather runes. Also, it was pointed out to me that there’s a very subtle sign that they are getting affected too, since we see Kyuma, Raizou, and Akira beginning to itch and scratch their skin in absent irritation. This could be an indicator that the hunger is spreading to them now.

On another note~! I’m glad that it shows how unprepared Shouko and the others are when it comes to running a country…er city….since they had no idea what any of those guys were talking about (which is kind of helpful information to know if you plan on doing business with other countries). If anything they need to take a lesson from the cast of Yozakura Quartet, those kids can actually run a town (though in Valvrave’s defense, they were kind of just thrown into this)….though unfortunately it seems the adult politicians will be taking advantage of their inexperience.
Side Note: It would be interesting to see the other Valvrave pilots pick their “Hosts” as I’m calling it…though it seems Haruto is still the only one with the “vampire attacks”…I kind just wanted to see who’d they pick if there were in that situation.

I’m very glad that this episode picks up right where the first season ended. I was actually worried it would start with a time-skip and force the audience to piece the events together. I hate that plot device.

Poor Shoko, clearly not cut out for politics. So much for her promised school festival, she’s now burdened with the bodies of several dozen students and government jobs. Too bad she didn’t have any proper plan when running a country huh? That’s why you don’t vote for people on a whim, kids.

We just haven’t gotten to the part where Shouko finds out about all the secrets her friends have been keeping from her, blames herself for her lack of ability (as she has done before), and then proceeds to become her grand holiness the Darth Vader Galactic Empress and out-eru-erufus L-Elf, out-xanatoses Cain, and out-macguffins secret vampire order on her way to being the main antagonist of Valvrave Destiny after episode 50.

“Saki was also the first one that came to Haruto’s mind when he thought about those who are important to him!”…hahaha I like you style of thinking Seishun, but i think in the anime world, characters usually shown last or the most important to the the one thinking about them…which would mean Shoko is more important to him. I do agree though that it seems that they are drumming up on their growing distance to ship Haruto and Saki but who knows.

There is no convention here actually, only the individual writer’s style. Personally, I don’t think the scene was supposed to symbolize which girl is more important, only that Haruto deeply cares for both.

I think its because of what happened to Saki he still feels guilty & he does want to risk her life well in Lelf case maybe it was the moment & he might feel that he can equal the burn he has on him since both of them have to do something.

There was one thing clear in this episode that the mysterious organization is taking over bodies makes them link to the Varave since pilots can switch bodies on the other hand I believe Colonel Cain is not the real Colonel some has take over his body base from the mark on his hand was briefly shown (S1 from while he was looking at the pics of the Valrave)same as Mirko shown,I always wonder why he knows so much now Im aski who is he and what position does he hold in the organization?

Actually I wonder if he would even be able to harvest from Saki anyways considering she’s a pilot. Cause I’m pretty sure the pilots are asked to give up their humanity. Thus making L-Elf the most likely option. (as much as I hate agreeing with the fan girls)

The reason Haruto has to feed is because he needs Runes, a particle that informations rae made up of. DNa is one of the possible sources of that fuel, which humans have thus they make a good source. And since Valpires, just like humans, aer supposed to have DNA and thus runes, Saki should be edible… though it is probably better to keep him away from Saki and Akira least the reproduction need kicks in again.

Oh well thats why I love this show!
Epic mecha action? check!
Vampiric curses and love drama done right (looking at Twilight with Kriemhild-seeping-juice disdain face)? Check!
Grand scale political machinations and diplomacy? check!
Cool and awesome characters with many independent agendas? check!
Secrets and plots taht only slowly surface? check!
Also, this is not my thing, but yaoi fangirls getting their pairing must have made them squee with delight. I am believer in equal opportunity for the crazy fandoms (being ymyself uri shipper more often than not), so it’s fine with me, even if I’d like to Saki to get that bite…

Frankly, after they decided to make Shoukos character into the punching bag of the show and since I’ve never cared too much for saki (one of the few, I guess) I’ll be watching this season just for the sports of it.
Still, I enjoyed the 1st season as an overall experience so I hope 2nd will deliver at least just as much.

this is show is so silly and that’s why we like it so much ! when they started with haruto having to feed bla bla bla I called it right away that he would be feeding from haruto ! no much to be discussed about that choice, this is the right way to please the fangirls :)

Yay Valvrave started again. I’m looking forward to reading your posts again too Seishun.
Yup, Tomatsu Haruka has a pretty good singing voice. She’s voicing a character in Pretty Rhythm Rainbow Live you know? Probably one of her best roles ever too. You should check it out.

Choosing an overdramatic idol who allowed herself to be a victim over someone with an actual common sense who can put him in his place? Haruto made the smart choice. The core relationship is between them. The women are just embellishments, time to ignore them after they nearly killed the show.